First woman president of Ireland to speak at USF about globalization
The first woman president of Ireland, Mary Robinson will speak at the University of St. Francis in Joliet on Friday, April 21. The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required.
Robinson will speak about "Human Rights and Ethical Globalization" at 7:30 p.m. in the university’s Moser Performing Arts Center. Seats are limited, and reservations can be made by calling (815) 740-3404.
"We are pleased to welcome a world leader such as Mary Robinson to the Joliet community," said USF President Michael Vinciguerra. "Global thinking will become a necessity for leaders at all levels, and Ms. Robinson will offer insight that will prepare us for the challenges of tomorrow."
Robinson, the first woman President of Ireland and more recently United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, is an example of a politician who puts humanity very much at the forefront of politics. She is currently the president of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative; chairs the Council of Women World Leaders; and is a member of the Global Commission on International Migration.
As an academic, legislator and barrister, Robinson has argued landmark cases before the European Court of Human Rights as well as in the Irish courts and the European Court in Luxembourg. In 1988, Robinson and her husband, Nicholas, founded the Irish Centre for European Law at the University of Dublin, She has also been chancellor of the university since 1998.
The recipient of numerous honors and awards throughout the world, Robinson is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and the American Philosophical Society. She is honorary president of Oxfam International, a confederation working in more than 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice.
A member of the Club of Madrid, a group of former heads of state and government, she serves on many boards including the Vaccine Fund, and chairs the Irish Chamber Orchestra.
Based in New York, Robinson is presently leading Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, supported by a partnership of the Aspen Institute, Columbia University and the Swiss based International Council on Human Rights Policy. Its goal is to bring the norms and standards of human rights into the globalization process and to support capacity building in good governance in developing countries. A Council of Goodwill Ambassador, she also serves on the International Commission of Jurists and is Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Robinson was educated at the University of Dublin (Trinity College), King's Inns Dublin, and Harvard Law School to which she won a fellowship in 1967. She holds honorary doctorates from more than 40 universities around the world, including Harvard, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Oxford, Cambridge, London and Edinburgh.
The University of St. Francis, at 500 Wilcox St. in Joliet, serves 4,100 students nationwide. Founded in 1920 by the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary
Immaculate, the university offers more than 60 areas of undergraduate study and 13 graduate programs.